CHEAP strip light and cabinet

Just thought I'd throw this up...

Bridgelux EB series strips running off an old laptop supply and this dimmer. The frame cost nothing, the strips are simply hung from the top of the cabinet with pieces of 18 ga wire, no heat sinks. Total cost, about $25 for 90w.

The cabinet also cost nothing, it's just water heater box.

1212ham said:

Just thought I'd throw this up...

Bridgelux EB series strips running off an old laptop supply and this dimmer. The frame cost nothing, the strips are simply hung from the top of the cabinet with pieces of 18 ga wire, no heat sinks. Total cost, about $25 for 90w.

The cabinet also cost nothing, it's just water heater box.

Click to expand...

I'm looking for some inexpensive LED strip lights for a small veg/clone/moms grow box. Where did you get the Bridgelux EB strips?

likely fron digikey, check their website, direct links posted in the bridgelux thread too.

You can buy them from digikey or arrow electronics. The 280mm and 560mm lengths are 19.5 volts. A 20 volt Dell laptop supply works great, cost me $1 at a thrift store. My 19.5 volt Dell supplies are a little under 19.5 v and don't get the strips up to full rated power.

1212ham said:

Just thought I'd throw this up...

Bridgelux EB series strips running off an old laptop supply and this dimmer. The frame cost nothing, the strips are simply hung from the top of the cabinet with pieces of 18 ga wire, no heat sinks. Total cost, about $25 for 90w.

The cabinet also cost nothing, it's just water heater box.

Click to expand...

Got a pic of the entire cab?

thats a real cheap power supply at 1$

Yeah, $1 for 90W isn't bad, but the dimmer set me back $4! And I dumped $9.50 into the carbon filter!

Axion42 said:

Got a pic of the entire cab?

Click to expand...

No pic, but it's just a cardboard box with a door cut in the side.

1212ham said:

No pic, but it's just a cardboard box with a door cut in the side.

Click to expand...

Needs must lol. I like cheap
Not as cheap as yours though.
2 x citizen 1212s at ~ 22 watts each. Too strong a light really but it done the trick. They were rooted and in rockwool.
I'd use the cardboard in emergencies, if I've no room elsewhere. They were for a friend.
I'd spare 2ft f strips but they were too long for that box. 1 footers woulda been ideal.

Aggressive veg numbers in there!

nice setup moflow, looks like the plants dont mind the price of the equipment, same for nutes imho.

1212ham said:

Yeah, $1 for 90W isn't bad, but the dimmer set me back $4! And I dumped $9.50 into the carbon filter!

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oh no 4$ for the dimmer is hard, haha.
What kind of diy filter you used?

cobshopgrow said:

nice setup moflow, looks like the plants dont mind the price of the equipment, same for nutes imho.


oh no 4$ for the dimmer is hard, haha.
What kind of diy filter you used?

Click to expand...

It's a 5 lb. bag of activated carbon for aquariums. I set the grill from an old toaster oven on a shallow cardboard box and set the carbon bag on top. Cut a hole in the box and it was done.

nice, thats a straight forward setup.

Sorry, I know this is an old thread, but how has the laptop power supply worked out for you on the EB strips? I am considering running 8-10 of the L0280Z size strips as side-lights and running them off a 7.7A 19.5V Asus laptop supply. They seem to be constant voltage supplies, but I don't know enough about them yet.

KlompenOG said:

Sorry, I know this is an old thread, but how has the laptop power supply worked out for you on the EB strips? I am considering running 8-10 of the L0280Z size strips as side-lights and running them off a 7.7A 19.5V Asus laptop supply. They seem to be constant voltage supplies, but I don't know enough about them yet.

Click to expand...

It worked fine, but I used a 20V supply, see post #4.
"My 19.5 volt Dell supplies are a little under 19.5 v and don't get the strips up to full rated power."

A couple more of my posts on this.

Great thanks. I plan to run mine dimmed and very close to the plants so I don't need full power anyway. I will check the links out thanks!